Bath time

I heard somewhere that a dog can shake something like 80% of the water out of their fur. Watching Lolly shake after her bath, I totally believe that!

I thought sharing the cutting board was amazing but those two big heads in one tiny water bowl? This is puppy love!

Vet visit, part I

Okay, so here's Tuesday's post that never did get around to being written.

Vet appointments are always interesting, but with our laundry list of issues, I knew this one was going to be extra special.  My dogs go to a holistic vet who takes a thorough history of all the known issues and really tries to avoid medications.  It was interesting trying to provide a history on Lolly, since I've only known her a few weeks, but I did my best.  We went home with four different prescriptions, a request for a urine sample, a follow up visit in two weeks and instructions to increase both of their fish oil and start Lolly on probiotics.  I guess I should back up and go through issue by issue or I may be completely turned around by the end of this post!

Both dogs were having itchiness issues.  Wolfey has always scratched and chewed when he's anxious and Lolly came to me with fleas, so I didn't stress too much over this, but it definitely was a large part of why I had scheduled the appointment.  Wolfey's  favorite place to chew is his right front leg and he was chewing to the point that he had reopened an old sore and started a new one.  Honestly, going in, this was my biggest concern.  The vet, though, was not so concerned.  I was already using the drops they had given me for the last sore and she said most likely it was just from the stress of having a new dog in the house.  She said that, like last time, the chewing would stop once he was settled and as long as the drops helped, not to worry about it.  The fact that both of the dogs are scratching, though, was a concern.  The vet combed through Lolly's fur and determined she needed to get a closer look at the skin irritation.  Poor Lolly has a bald patch now. :(  I'm glad she shaved it though, because it was way worse than I realized.  Without going into detail, I'll just say I was pretty grossed out.  The vet did a scraping and ran some tests, but everything was inconclusive, leaving her to believe it just about has to be scabies, better known as mange in dogs.  Eww, gross and yuck!  According to my vet, scabies is species specific and I have no reason to worry about any possibility of myself or any of my friends or family being infected; however, according to pet.webmd.com, "Scabies, tiny spiderlike mites, are highly contagious and are transmitted primarily by direct contact and through contaminated grooming equipment and kennels. These mites are also transferable to humans and other pets."  Okay, I'd known it was transferable to other dogs and already had plans to keep my dogs home and away from other dogs until they were done with their treatment, but this bit about it being contagious to humans - yikes!  Further down in the article, it does say that scabies can only live for three weeks on a human, but still, who wants to itch like that for three weeks?  ASPCA.org says that it's pretty unlikely that scabies will be transmitted, either from dog to dog or dog to human.  I have to admit, I'm inclined to believe my vet and the ASPCA, but the webmd info still worries me.  Webmd goes on to say "Probably no other skin disease will cause your dog to scratch and bite at her skin with such intensity. The severe itching is caused by female mites tunneling a few millimeters under the skin to lay their eggs. The eggs hatch in 3 to 10 days. The immature mites develop into adults and begin to lay eggs of their own. The entire life cycle occurs on the dog’s skin, and takes just 17 to 21 days." Oh, ick!  I put the pieces together and realized that most likely this means webmd is saying that while scabies can bite and live on a human, they cannot reproduce on a human.  This helps a little, but still, I do not want to have to deal with this!

The best description for mange I could find said "Scabies attacks the skin of the ears, elbows, hocks, and the underside of the chest and face. The onset is abrupt with scratching, hair loss, and inflamed skin in these areas. Crusty ear tips are characteristic... In the later stages the skin becomes thick, crusted, scaly, and darkly pigmented."  This sounds like Lolly.  Ugh!  

I've already ordered the medication and will start treatment as soon as I get it, but my biggest worry is that I've had Lolly for about a month and a half, and in that time, she's been around my parents, my sister, my nieces and nephews and several of my friends, not to mention my walking buddy's dog...and that she sleeps with me!  I'm really hoping that my vet knows what she's talking about and that pets.webmd.com is wrong but I'm still worried.  I'm supposed to have company over Saturday and I almost want to tell them not to come.

Okay, I really got off on a tangent here once I started researching, so I'll save the rest of this post for another day, but I'll end it with this tidbit:

Rescue dogs are just that - dogs who are rescued from abuse, poor care and generally bad living conditions.  When you take in a rescue dog, you take them with all their dirt, bad habits and poor health.  Wolfey came to me with a parasite as well, although thankfully he didn't have the opportunity to infect anyone else.  When I adopted Wolfey, he had whipworm, an intestinal parasite that causes diarrhea.  I worked with the vet, gave him the appropriate medication and we got it cleared up fairly easily.  I know scabies is more serious and is going to be more difficult to deal with, but it's all part of saving my babies and I'm so lucky to be able to take care of them.

Potty training

I thought potty training the boy was rough.  At 3 1/2 years old, he came to me wearing a pull up.  Not having raised a child before, I knew he was behind, but didn't realize just how difficult it was going to be until a few months in, when he was regressing instead of moving forward and I was at my wit's end.  The plus side here?  A child can wear a diaper.

Lolly, on the other hand, just pees where she wants, when she wants.  I have to say, last night was an improvement over the night before; I actually got to sleep all night - amazing!  So why am I complaining?  I have one and a half baths in my house, with the half bath being in the master bedroom, so I have to shower in the hall bath.  Because I do have a half bath in my room, the only time I go in the hall bath is to clean it periodically and to shower.  So, in my still sleepy state this morning, I wandered into the hall bath to shower...and stepped in a puddle.  It seems that Lolly has decided to potty train herself.  Don't get me wrong, it's easier to clean pee off of tile than hardwood, but if she's going to make it all the way to the bathroom anyway, why can't she just lift the lid and flush when she's done?!

Pissed

I had yesterday's post all written in my head but never had a chance to sit down and write it.  Life just kept coming and there never was time to take a little "me" time.  I was going to talk about how difficult my dogs' lives were before I adopted them and how lucky we all are to have found each other.  I was going to write about our visit to the vet, what I learned and we'll be doing to clear up the latest bout of health issues my dogs are dealing with.  That will all have to wait for another day, because after the night we had last night, I'm not sure I have the focus to get it all down coherently.  That, and I'm not feeling super sympathetic toward Lolly right now.  Let's just say, after cleaning up accidents at 2:00am (when I got up to use the restroom and she peed right in front of me, but I was too asleep to realize what she was doing - until I stepped in it and woke up enough to clean it up) and again at 5:00am (when I awoke to the sound of water [pee] hitting the hardwood floor) and then having to go out with her this morning to collect a urine sample to drop at the vet's office on my way to work, I'm a little pissed off at the whole situation.  Of course, I guess that's better than being pissed on.  Let's just say they better find something out with this sample, because if she doesn't have a good reason for her incontinence, she may just become an outside dog!

And tonight's menu is...

It never fails to amaze me how easy it is to combine training time and dinner time now that we're doing a raw food diet. We worked on "sit" and "okay" (I don't let the dogs take food from someone without the "okay" from me) tonight and Lolly was rewarded with chunks of pork, which also happened to be dinner. Of course Wolfey wanted to brush up on his skills, too, so he "trained" right along side Lolly. And the really cool part? After dinner they shared the cutting board! This is a first, as Wolfey usually growls at Lolly when she tries to share. Amazing progress!

Food non-aggression

Oh, thank heavens my little girl doesn't have food issues!  I'm not quite as happy about the fact that she doesn't have any qualms about stealing food off the kitchen counter, but that's something we can work on.  I came into the kitchen to find that she had taken the bone I set out on the counter to thaw and without thinking I reached down and grabbed it from her.  I can do this with Wolfey, so it didn't even register to me that she may growl or snap at me.  Thankfully she didn't, and just gave me a look like, "What?  They were right there!"  I'll have to work on her nasty little habit of counter surfing but until we get that worked out, I'm just going to have to be better about putting food up higher!

Sometimes...

...you see it coming from a mile away.  Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries.  You know it's going to be a rough day, so you surround yourself with family and friends or find some way to keep your mind off of it.  Other times, you're driving along, minding your own business and things seem to be going well.  You're e-mailing the girl since you can't see her right now, remembering the boy when you pass places you took him a lot, and for the most part, things are okay.  And then it hits you, like a Mack truck.  You have your sister's kids for the day and she is nice enough to bring them to your house so you can get stuff done and it reminds you of how great it is to have kids in the house.  Then Princess is sleepy and snugly and missing her mama and she slips up and calls you Mommy.  It's rough, but you're also loving spending time with the monkeys, so you power through.  Then the next morning, you wake up in an empty house and find one of the boy's favorite toys in the middle of the living room floor and it's your total undoing.  It's those days that you almost call DCS and renew your license.  Almost.

The best doggies ever

I had Doll Baby and Princess for the afternoon while BBS went to Miss Thing's Girl Scout gathering and the kids were absolutely adorable with the dogs. Doll Baby was convinced he was going to train the dogs and tried to get them to do all sorts of silly things. At one point, he was actually down on the ground, showing them how to roll over. Every time they would do what he asked (usually by pure coincidence) he would exclaim, "(whichever dog it was) is the best doggy EVER!" The kids were amazingly good and I had such a great time, but I am completely worn out. As I sit here waiting for Date to arrive, I'm contemplating the fact that I'd almost rather be at home in bed right now! I just don't know how BBS does it, but I can honestly say that I am so lucky to have such an amazing role model in my life, and for my nieces and nephews!

Lost in translation

The other day I let Lolly out to potty a few minutes before I had to leave for work.  When it was time to leave she still wasn't back.  I called and called for her but she never came.  Finally, Wolfey walked over, giving me the "Mom, you're doing it wrong" look and strolled outside.  Within a minute he was back, with Lolly in tow.  I guess until I find an English to dog dictionary, at least I have a translator!

Possible solution

My walking buddy had an awesome idea - he brought a leash splitter on our walk tonight. He hooked Lolly up with his dog, who wasn't taking any if Lolly's usual walking antics. They were absolutely hilarious together and Lolly made a fool of herself (and had me in tears I was laughing so hard!) many times but by the end she really did seem to get the concept of walking on a leash. My buddy gave me the splitter and I plan on hooking Lolly to Wolfey the next time we walk. We shall see what happens since Lolly is bigger than Wolfey, but I have high hopes since Wolfey has already established himself as the leader. I'm so lucky to have such an awesome walking buddy who is so great with dogs and really thinks outside the box!

No, this is not the result of Wolfey or I pushing her off the bed. I walked out of the bathroom to find her like this. She could have had the entire bed, but chose to just about fall off the edge. Silly girl!

Dear date,

While I had a wonderful time tonight, next time I say I need to get home, we would both do well to remember that waiting for me are a dear sweet baby who needs some Mommy time and a little bitch who will piss all over everything if I leave her too long. That's right, twice in one day. Awesome.
Sincerely,
At her wits' end

What a way to wake up

I woke up at 7:26 this morning, to the awesome realization that my dogs had let me sleep in! I also realized that I'd forgotten to close the bedroom door but both dogs had slept through the night. Wolfey was curled up next to me, Lolly at the foot of the bed. Amazing! As soon as I stirred, the both came up for some snuggles and scratches, but still, both were very appropriate and not attacking me with their lovins, which is Lolly's usual M. O. I really enjoyed waking up that way. After about 15 minutes Lolly started to get restless. She went out to the kitchen, presumably to let me know she wanted breakfast, then came back and jumped on the bed. She went off somewhere else then came back for some snuggles. The third time she went off, she came back right in my face, licking and pawing at me. Annoying, but typical for my little girl, so I reprimanded her and went on petting Wolfey. Well, apparently that was her way of telling me she had to potty, because she promptly hopped down, squatted in the corner and peed. Right in front of me!! I'm pretty sure Lolly has had more accidents in the four weeks she's been here than Wolfey has had in the entire four YEARS we have lived in this house! I really need to learn this girl's signals because this is the third time she's had an accident while I've been home. It's infuriating but I am determined to figure her out! Foster mama, if you're reading this, I'm open to any and all input you may have!

Dear door to door salesman,

I appreciate that you work hard for a living, and really have to be just a bit pushy; however, when a woman tells you she can't let you in her house because her dogs will flip out, believe her.  If you try to bully your way into her house, they just may flip out on you.  And if that woman is me, she may just let them

Note to self

Despite the fact that you have two dogs, do NOT put out two bones at the same time, as Lolly will eat them both and you will be cleaning up after her for days. Giving extra bones will not ensure that Wolfey gets access to one, but rather that Lolly will gorge herself. Yuck :/

Who knew?

Closing the bedroom door kept Lolly contained, allowed her to relax, and made it so everyone could get a decent night's sleep. Thank goodness!

It's a good night

When Bug comes to visit!

4. A. M.

I haven't slept through the night since Lolly came, nor have I slept past about 6:30 in the morning.  Then Friday night I had company until nearly 2 AM, was up several times during the night (thanks to my lovely pup) and back up at 7 AM to go to work Saturday morning.  Needless to say, I'm pretty exhausted.  I went out to dinner with a friend of mine last night and got home around 9:30.  Sadly, despite the fact that it was Saturday night, I was in bed before 10:00.  I couldn't believe how good the dogs were being, either.  I gave Lolly a bone that kept her busy for a while and Wolfey snuggled in next to me.  I think he was enjoying the fact that Lolly was occupied and he could actually get me to himself for once!  I crashed hard and must have been sound asleep, because I didn't even know Lolly was in the room until she launched herself off the bed and go barreling down the hall, barking at something.  Since Lolly doesn't usually bark I got up to check the house and realized I'd left the back door open (the screen door was shut), so I closed and locked it and stumbled back to bed around 12:30 AM.  I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow, but was jolted awake again when both dogs started barking around 2:00.  I usually leave the bedroom door open so they can come and go as they please, but in the past shutting the door has helped Wolfey settle in, so I got up again, closed the door and promptly returned to slumberland.  Around 3:30, Lolly started making this weird sound where she would growl really low, building until she finally let out a bark.  I thought she must have been having a bad dream, comforted her and tried to go back to sleep, but she continued for the next half hour.  I finally got up and closed the window (the only remaining access to the "outside world") and realized that my neighbors were outside, lights blazing, laughing and talking and that must be what Lolly was hearing...at 4:00 in the morning!!  I love sleeping with the windows open on these cool nights, but I think tonight I'll make sure the neighbors are in for the night before settling in!

Doggie sedative?

My friend came over last night and I was really worried about how the dogs would do. I haven't had company since Lolly came to live with me. My worries were completely displaced when my friends showed up and the dogs were amazing! Lolly was on her absolute best behavior and Wolfey used his usual coping mechanism of destroying a toy but didn't bother us. I was so happy with how the evening went and thought maybe Lolly was finally settling in...until my company left and the proverbial doo doo hit the fan. Wolfey completely relaxed and zonked out on the bedroom floor and Lolly went crazy. She was in my face, standing on my chest, freaking out with her need for attention. She had me up three tines during the night, despite having stayed up until around 2:00. It makes me wonder if my friend had some sort of sedative affect on her, but whatever it was, I wish it would happen more often!

Dear Neighbor,

Seeing as how your dog is an inside dog and rarely comes out unless you are outside with her, could you please keep her dog food inside? I am aware that it stinks and can sympathize with the fact that you do not want it in your home, but it is for that same reason that I do not want my dogs to have access to that swill. It's no wonder Wolfey has gained weight recently! I feed my dogs a healthy, wholesome diet and it displeases me greatly when they drag your dog's stinky junk food into my clean home. I would be equally satisfied with your mending your fence such that my far from small forty pound dog isn't able to walk through the holes and into your yard, therefore gaining access to your dog's stench. It is quite frustrating when I drag my dogs out of your yard, shut the gate behind me and turn around to find that they have walked right back in through the hole next to the gate. I am aware that I could keep my dogs on a leash at all times, but considering that this has never been an issue before and there are dogs running all over our neighborhood, I do not think it fair to punish my dogs for your laziness.
Sincerely,
Karen

My boy

As you may have noticed, it's all about Lolly lately.  It's not intentional on my part; Wolfey is so well behaved and easy going, it makes him easy to overlook but Lolly is very much and in your face kind of dog.  She would never let you ignore her!  Wolfey is really good about letting Lolly have her one-on-one time with me, but when it's his turn, she infallibly jumps in, forcing me to pet her, too.  I find myself saying, "two hands, two doggies.  You do the math."  I think Wolfey gets it - I swear that boy speaks English!  But Lolly is clueless.  I'm pretty sure her thought process is something like, "you're home, therefore you should be paying attention to me."  The other night I was talking to Mom about this and she offered for Wolfey to spend some time at her house, just so he'd get some one-on-one, even if it wasn't with me, but I just feel so guilty shipping him off so I can give Lolly the attention she needs.  I'd almost rather send Lolly away for a day and give Wolfey some special time, but I know that Lolly just needs to have the chance to bond before she can settle down and settle in.  Sometimes she irritates the bejeezus out of me with her clingyness but I'm trying to take a step back and remember how my foster kids where.  At least I could tell them why they'd moved and they got to visit their moms.  Poor Lolly was just uprooted AGAIN and no one can explain it to her.  It's so weird for me, because Wolfey knew he was home from day one; I got him from a shelter and he knew I had saved him.  But Lolly was in a safe, comfortable, loving home and I just took her away.  I do wonder if seeing her foster mommy would help, or if that would just confuse her more.  Either way, I've got to find a way to give Wolfey more attention before he starts thinking I'm playing favorites!

My inspiration

Originally, BBS agreed to help with Uncle J when our grandpa was in poor health, but when Grandpa passed away, BBS jumped in with both feet, going to visit Uncle J six days a week, taking him home cooked meals, cleaning his home, taking him out in the community (he doesn't drive or have any friends to take him out), taking him to (and being responsible for him at) all our family functions, inviting him into her home for holidays and her kids' birthday parties and generally being awesome company for him when not many other people go to visit him.  Our family pitches in (one cousin went once a week for about a year, I did it once a week for several months, Dad does a lot of Uncle J's maintenance work on his house, etc.) but no one has been as dedicated as BBS.  Schmo was very little when BBS started caring for Uncle J and probably doesn't remember a time when Uncle J was not a huge part of their life and Doll Baby and Princess have never known anything different.  A lot has happened lately and BBS must be having a rough time coping, but she's such an amazingly strong woman and has just kept on keeping on.  This is our email exchange with her update on the situation.

From: Karen

To: BBS

Subject: Re: Update on Uncle J

You're amazing :)  I love that you remember to update everyone and keep everything so positive.  I just want you to know how proud I am of you for sticking with him for all these years and continuing to be his biggest advocate and most loving visitor.  I'm so lucky to call you my big sister!

---

From: BBS
To: (our entire family)
Sent: Wednesday, September 5, 2012 2:55 PM
Subject: Update on Uncle J

Hi, Family!

 

I wanted to contact you all to let you know what I know about Uncle J.  He is currently living at (name) Nursing Home off of (name) Rd. in (name). (not far from [name])  He has been there since August 15th when he was moved from (name) Hospital (he was there for 3 days).  He was taken to the hospital for general complaints of not feeling well, not wanting to eat, constantly rubbing his head, neck, and stomach.  Many tests were run at the hospital and the general conclusion was that he must have had a stroke at some point in the past few months.  Aunt S and I think it was around the time of his "first" fall in March.  He has been receiving Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Speech Therapy daily at (nursing home).  Yesterday, he was moved to a "permanent" room.  The room is # and it is on the # floor.  I'm sure he would appreciate any time you can spare to go and visit.  I visit on (day) and Aunt S is there quite often, but new faces are always nice.  As of now, he is continuing therapy.  I know that will end whenever there is determined to be no progress, but for now those appointments tend to be early in the day and over by about (time).  You can always call ahead to check his schedule or go to therapy with him if he is there when you visit.  They welcome visitors in the therapy rooms.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

 

Love,

(BBS)

Paw problems

Lolly has the roughest paws of any dog I've ever known.  I know dogs paws need to be a little rough for traction, but this is far beyond what is necessary.  She doesn't mean to, but she really hurts me when she jumps up or steps on me.  In fact, my chest is all scratched up from her trying to snuggle and scraping her paws on me.  This morning I didn't even realize how bad she'd gotten my arm until I got in the shower and it burned from the soap - I have quite a red patch!  As with any skin irritation, fish oil was my first line of defense, but it just wasn't enough.  I asked her foster mom if she had tried anything and she gave me some paw balm from GNC that has helped, but it's still not enough.  I've done my research and determined that Bag Balm is going to be my next thing to try.  Wish me luck, and I'll post an update soon!

DCS should put me on their payroll.

I just spent nearly an hour and a half on the phone with my daughter's sister's dad's uncle's wife. Also known as the sister's foster mom. Such a weird situation, and just one more reason I'm not fostering right now - because as much as I love my girl and want to do everything I can to help her, it should NOT be my responsibility to make sure the other kids' foster parents are kept up to date on the case. People who work for DCS are called caseworkers. Think maybe it's their job to keep people informed, and, you know, work on the case? Still, as frustrating as it is, I know that I'm incredibly lucky to have such a great relationship with the other foster parents and workers in her case to be able to help my girl as much as possible.

Clothes. Everywhere.

I've mentioned before that Wolfey likes to take my pajamas out to the living room when I'm gone.  I've kind of gotten used to having to go on a scavenger hunt before I can change out of my work clothes.  Yesterday, though, I came home to find my pajamas, two pairs of capris, three slippers and a partridge in a pear tree, all on the living room couch!  Okay, I may be stretching it with the bird and the tree, but seriously, just how many pieces of clothing do the dogs need to snuggle with?  I mentioned it to Mom this morning and she suggested that maybe Lolly thought Wolfey was doing me some laundry service and was just trying to help.  This would be funny, if it I hadn't just come out of the bathroom to see her (the dog, not my mom) standing there with my pants hanging out of her mouth!